


In The Dance

by Morvidra



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Dancing, Gen, Hobbit Culture & Customs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:45:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morvidra/pseuds/Morvidra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some time after the Battle of Five Armies, Tauriel travels to visit Bilbo</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Dance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spoke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/gifts).



“Tauriel, come dance!”

The voice came from a hobbit fauntling who barely reached Tauriel’s hip, but Tauriel nonetheless allowed herself to be drawn into the swirling group of dancers.

Hobbit dancing, she was finding, was very different to elvish dancing. Elves danced as individuals – each elf moving as the music called them to do so, usually slowly and always gracefully, like the swaying of trees in a wind. Hobbits, by contrast, danced in pairs or groups that might vary from four to a great circle made of all the dancers. Their steps were set in advance, or for some dances they were called out by a large-voiced hobbit standing to the side of the dancing floor (whom Tauriel had learned was named _Rory Brandybuck_ ). And while the hobbits could dance as gracefully as any elf, they could also stomp their feet louder than any iron-shod dwarf, and change in a heartbeat from lyrical melody to wild cacophony.

Tauriel found – to her surprise – that she was enjoying herself. She was so much taller than any of her dance partners that she had to stoop just to clasp hands (and _that_ was going to lead to a backache tomorrow!) and she couldn’t quite manage some of the more Hobbit-ish steps that required big Hobbit feet to keep one’s balance. But nobody minded when she stumbled, and she had been besieged with potential dance partners the whole evening.

Perhaps Bilbo had had something to do with that, she thought. He had seemed entirely unsurprised when she had arrived unannounced on his doorstep, and had ushered her inside with the simple statement: “Tea is at four, so you’re just in time. I’ll put the kettle on.” He did not offer sympathy, for which Tauriel was secretly glad – she had left on her travels largely because she did not want to be reminded, after all – and they stuck largely to neutral topics of discussion over the days that followed.

Tonight was what Tauriel would have called _Yestarë_ , and the Hobbits called _Lithe_ – although Bilbo had been at some pains to explain that it is was rather more complicated than a simple equivalency, – but Tauriel had not really paid attention. It was enough to know that tonight was midsummer, and, for the first time in many years, she could relax and begin to enjoy herself again.

She tripped over her feet again, recalled from her reverie to the fact that she was in the middle of a dance, but salvaged the momentum by turning her stumble into an elvish twirl. Her partner grinned with delight as roars of approval came from several nearby hobbits, and she found herself grinning back.

“Again, Tauriel! Do it again!” cried her little partner, attempting the spin herself and nearly falling over in the process. Tauriel could not stop herself laughing at the sight of the hobbit child, and, swooping down suddenly, picked up the faunt and twirled her around to the skies.

And a thought crossed her mind: _Yes. I was right to leave the forest._

[](http://s1016.photobucket.com/user/Morvidra/media/tauriel.jpg.html)


End file.
